The Enlightenment and the English literature of the 18th century.

As several of the most brilliant writers of the 18^th century were Irishmen, notably Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith Richard Sheridan. it is important to say a few words about Ireland. unlike Scotland, which shared the monarchy on equal terms with England 9in 1707 they were officially united to form the United Kingdom), Ireland was a country that had been conquered by the English. the genuine Irish, mostly peasants, were Catholics and still spoke their own language, Galic. But most of the landowners and the professional class came from families of English settlers; and it is these Anglo-Irish, unusually gifted, witty people, who gave English literature so many brilliant writers, from Jonathan Swift to Bernard Shaw.

This century also saw the change of the ruling dynasty: after William and Mary, came Mary’s sister, Queen Anne, the least of the Stuarts, who reigned from 1702 to 1714. After her death a difficult situation arose: the direct succession to the throne belonged to the line of the deposed James II, his son and then his grandson, who, supported by the “Jacobites”, were waiting in France.

In order to avoid the Stuart succession, the Crown was offered to a cousin of Queen Anne, the ruler of a small German kingdom of Hanover, who took the trone in 1714. After her death a difficult situation arose: the direct succession to the throne belonged to the line of the deposed James II, his son and then his grandson, who supported by the “Jacobites”, were waiting in France as George I. he was followed by his son, George II, and grandson, George III. The Hanovers were not a very happy choice, but two attempts to restore the Stuarts were failures.

From now on the two-party system, later adopted in America, came into being. The Whigs represented chiefly the financial and mercantile interests, the cities and the towns, the progressive element, and, were strongly opposed to any interference in politics by the monarchy. The Tories, many of them Jacobites, represented the country squires and their folk, those who favoured old traditions. There was no real political democracy in the modern understanding, but, on the other hand, the ordinary people of the 18^th century were public-spirited and often expressed their dissatisfaction by violent rioting that could be calmed down only by military force.

The 18^th century could also be called a century of Wars. From the beginning to the end of the century the great rival, the enemy was France. At first the struggle was for European supremacy, but by the middle of the century the struggle with France was for overseas empire. Here Britain had an advantage because she had better Navy and knew how to use her sea – power. It was during these years that the huge British Empire, ranging from Gibraltar to India and Canada was built up.

But though it was the century of wars, they were completely different from what we understood by “a war” in the 20^th century: these were usually fought by small professional armies, and the daily lives of the most people were affected hardly at all. Even when Britain and France were at war, trade and cultural exchanges continued between the two countries.

In this period Britain was free from the revolutionary heated atmosphere of the 17^th century and the growing doubts and dark divisions of the 19^th century. The upper classes and the middle classes in Britain during this age felt more complacement than they had ever felt before or since. They felt that they lived in the in the best of all possible worlds. The 18^th century complacency was due partly to the work of the scientists and philosophers who really belonged to the previous century. They had announced in their various ways that the universe was a smoothly running machine, first set in motion by a benevolent deity and that so long as man understood the working of this machine he could be said to be the master of it. This rational religion was known as deism. Human reason and “common sense” played so large and significant a role in this period that it is often referred to as “the age of reason”.

The same key-word “reason” can be found in the definition of the term “Enlightenment”: “the period in the 18^th century in Europe when certain thinkers taught that science and the use of reason would improve the human condition”.

The writers and philosophers of this age thought that man was virtuous by nature, and vice was due to ignorance only. So they started a public movement for enlightening people. To their understanding, this would do away with all the evils of society, and social harmony would be achieved.

But the 18^th century in England was also an Age of Elegance. Real civilization not unlike but superior to the old classical civilization of Greece and Rome, to which the 18^th century compared itself had been achieved at last; and now society (by which was meant persons of position, wealth and influence) could settle down to enjoy it. Never in European history we see men and woman of the 18^th century.

And it was for this small and compact society of important and influential people that literature at the beginning of this period was chiefly created. It was very much a public literature, not representing the deeply felt impressions, hopes or fears of one individual, but the outlook and values of this limited society. It was literature that could be read aloud in a drawing room, enjoyed in a theatre or discussed in a coffee-house. Naturally, the atmosphere of this kind encourages comedy, satire in both verse and prose, pleasant little essays, and criticism, but it is fatal to poetry.

Shakespeare’s sonnets would have seemed absurd to this society, which did not expect from literature anything private or intimate.

But very soon the situation changed drastically. Readers were no longer confined to a small class: the new middle class, especially its women members took to buying and reading books. If they couldn’t afford to buy them, they borrowed them from libraries run by shopkeepers.

The fact that young women borrowed so much fiction shows that by 1770s the novel, though a comparatively new literary form, had won great popularity.

English literature of the period may be characterized by the following features:

- this period saw the rise of the political pamphlet and essay, but the leading genre of the Enlightenment became the novel. poetry and the heroic age of Shakespeare gave way to the prose age of the essayist and novelists. The prose style became clear, graceful and polished.

- the hero of the novel was no longer a prince, but a representative of the middle class: that was new, because so far the common people had usually been depicted as comic characters.

- literature became very instructive: writers tried to teach their readers what was good and was bad from their own point of view.